Expert: Marla - 1/21/2011

Question
I am making an Animals baby afghan that calls for FPDC's.  Every time I crochet a pattern with FPDC's, I find that after a few rows, the tops of the rows curve up.  It's like the FPDC's are taller than the rest of the doubles on that row.  This particular pattern starts with a 4" square in the middle of the afghan.  The FPDC's cause the square to "bow" out along the 4 sides.
Do you have a solution, or do you need more information to help me?

-Patricia

Answer
Hi Patricia!
Thanks for asking. It may be a tension situation. Does it look like your stitching on the FPDC is looser? To make it a little tighter, you can crochet a little tighter or use a smaller crochet hook, say one size smaller when doing the FPDC. Sometimes the instructions or diagrams are not clear. When you make the FPDC, do you crochet around the post itself, where you insert the hook just below where you would normally insert for a dc? If none of these seem to help, if you could send me part of the pattern involving the FPDC I’ll crochet that part and see how it ends up for me. I hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes, and if there is anything else I can help you with. Good luck!

Marla